It’s a worldly concept for a local restaurant, and one that
Glidewell’s in Blowing Rock is proud to present.
From left, head chef Will
Burrell and restaurant owner Powell W. Glidewell IV stand
outside Glidewell’s in Blowing Rock, which celebrated
its grand opening last week. Photo
by Frank Ruggiero
Formerly Highlands of Blowing Rock, and Tijuana Fats before that,
the restaurant has undergone significant changes to menu and atmosphere,
maintaining a relaxed and casual setting befitting of an old house,
while offering amenities not found in most casual restaurants.
The restaurant features a sizable menu, but owner Powell W. Glidewell
IV, a Boone attorney, said there’s no pretense included.
Instead, diners will find cuisine that spans the world over, courtesy
of chef Will Burrell, winner of the 2008 Fire on the Rock Chef’s
Challenge, with more than 20 years of experience under his hat.
“Food has a historic aspect,” Burrell said. “It’s
a global, cultural kind of thing, and we’re really heading
toward global comfort food, coming up with a menu organized by
cities.”
Diners will find a taste of New Orleans with the French Quarter
gumbo or a shrimp po’boy, and then head south of the border
to Tijuana for a gourmet chips and salsa appetizer. There’s
no embargo for taste, meaning diners can also enjoy Cuban fare
from Havana, including conch fritters, a Cuban sandwich and a
jerk chicken or shrimp salad.
A journey to Milan, Italy, offers roasted pepper and tomato basil
bisque, calamari and Mediterranean salad, and diners can stop
in Marseilles, France, for a Monte Cristo sandwich. And then there
are the half-pound hamburgers from, appropriately, Hamburg, Germany.
The dinner menu features a variety of continental and international
dishes, ranging from steaks and pecan-encrusted grouper or mountain
trout to crab cakes, pasta and Tournedos Jackson Square, which
is beef tenderloin grilled with shrimp, crabmeat with a Béarnaise
sauce and herb roasted potatoes.
“This is not premised on what we think they eat in that city,
but exactly the same recipe and manner in which it’s served,
what people actually eat there on a daily basis,” Glidewell
said.
Starting in February, Glidewell’s will offer fare from a
different city, Burrell said.
“My whole thing is places we want to visit,” he said.
“I got started cooking because of the historical aspect.”
Burrell has spent considerable time studying the origins of the
dishes, providing him and Glidewell an idea of what would best
fit the menu. Then comes the Internet search. Glidewell and Burrell
rev the search engine and begin seeking restaurants in foreign
cities – not necessarily the fine-dining, five-star establishments,
but rather those that have stood the test of time and seem the
most representative of their area.
This results in a call to the restaurant, followed by a polite
request for their most popular recipe.
“They’re happy to hear from a little restaurant in Blowing
Rock,” Glidewell said. “Because they’re not competing
with us over the ocean, they’re happy to share their recipe.
That helps us get that authenticity of what we serve.”
The American perspective of foreign food is oftentimes geared
toward the American palate, Glidewell said, so his restaurant
will be featuring food that is not normally available in the High
Country market.
“By doing that, I don’t feel like anyone’s going
to get bored with our menu,” Burrell said.
For instance, instead of offering weekend specials, Glidewell’s
will offer a weekend city.
“So, people can come back the next night and go to a whole
different part of the world,” Burrell said.
Wait staff have been trained by bar manager Rich Scheurer to suggest
beer and wine pairings for each dish. Scheurer brings to the table
more than 20 years’ worth of restaurant experience. “So
we kind of know how to start from the ground up,” he said.
All three agree the restaurant offers a lot of potential for culinary
exploration, and they’ve already received some encouraging
feedback.
A group of Cubans visiting the High Country dined at the restaurant
five nights in a row, Glidewell said, offering their compliments
on the Cuban sandwich.
“When they tell you this is as good as anything they’d
get in Miami, well, you know you’re hitting it,” Glidewell
said.
“And almost everything we’re doing is from scratch,”
Burrell added. “Keep it fresh, keep it simple. My job is
to make sure everyone leaves here feeling happy.”
Dessert can oftentimes help with that, and Burrell is offering
tiramisu, chocolate turtle ganache and key lime pie, to name but
a few.
A happy, comfortable atmosphere is essential to Glidewell and
Burrell, and local music and artwork help perpetuate the concept.
Glidewell’s will serve as a venue for area musicians and
artists, with the house’s acoustics ideal for unplugged performances
and its walls rife with local artwork.
Through the Watauga Arts Council, Glidewell’s is offering
area artists a unique venue to showcase their work on a monthly
rotational basis.
“We’re committed to not having a piece of art being
in one place for more than a month,” Glidewell said. “The
same picture will never be seen twice. We want to be viewed as
a unique, casual restaurant … but we also want to be viewed
as an art gallery.”
Glidewell hopes the restaurant will serve as a jumping-off point
for local artists trying to gain a footing in the industry.
“The best part of life is art,” Burrell said. “The
rest is what you suffer through.”
Glidewell purchased the restaurant in February 2008, re-opening
it as Highlands of Blowing Rock. A couple months back, he and
Burrell began throwing around ideas of different restaurant concepts,
ideally something that would fit well in the old house.
They arrived at global comfort food, which they gradually began
to incorporate into the Highland’s menu. Customer reaction
was encouraging, and Glidewell’s hosted its grand opening
Jan. 21.
Customers will continue to play a role, as Glidewell and Burrell
will accept suggestions as to what city the menu should next visit.
Glidewell’s, located at 1182 Main St. in downtown Blowing
Rock, is open every day, but Wednesday, featuring brunch on weekends
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and a late night menu from 9 p.m. to midnight.
The around-the-world menu is available from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
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